Naspers shares plunge on Tencent news

Johannesburg - Naspers [JSE:NPN] shares fell sharply on Tuesday following news over China's online gaming operator Tencent, of which the South African media giant owns just over one-third.

A trader, who requested to remain anonymous, said this came after China banned the use of the company's virtual currency, QQ, by minors. Tencent shares spiralled lower following the announcement.

On Tuesday, it slumped 4.69% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.

At 16:45 local time, Naspers shares fell 5.71% to R262.60 on the JSE.

Naspers, which owns Media24 and Multichoice among other businesses, holds about 35% of Tencent and the Chinese online group accounts for 76% of Naspers' total market capitalisation of about R110bn.

It is not clear whether the ban could slow Tencent's gaming business.

The trader said the ban had affected minors, who use the Tencent games a lot.

Tencent's QQ is convertible into real currency.

Q coins are obtained either by purchasing one coin for one renminbi or for using the mobile phone service. Due to the popularity of QQ among young Chinese, Q coins are now gradually being accepted by more and more online stores and gaming sites in exchange for "real" merchandise such as small gifts, and raise the concern of replacing real currency in these transactions, according to Wikipedia.